Boots and shoes

ABSTRACT

A SPORTS SHOE HAVING FLANGED STUDS SECURED TO RETAINERS EMBEDDED IN THE SOLE OF THE SHOE, THE FLANGES OF THE STUDS BEING ACCOMMODATED IN DOMED BOTTOM CAVITIES IN THE SOLE OF THE SHOE.

$55112} 1971 '7 f Ausfi N 1 3,553,858

BOOTS AND SHOES Filed Nov. 16, 1967 Clil/ J-Austc'n Mme/we I United States Patent US. Cl. 36--67 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sports shoe having flanged studs secured to retainers embedded in the sole of the shoe, the flanges of the studs being accommodated in domed bottom cavities in the sole of the shoe.

The present invention relates to boots and shoes of the kind provided with flanged studs, spikes or other projections, all hereinafter referred to simply as studs, extending from the soles thereof, with the flanges of the studs lying against the soles. Normally the flanges of the studs are concave on that surface which comes up against a sole. Examples of footwear of this kind are golf shoes and football boots. More" particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to boots and shoes of this kind in which the soles are of a moulded construction formed for example from rubber or synthetic plastics material.

In the past it has been normal practice in the manufacture of boots and shoes of the aforementioned kind to provide stud retainers in the soles, conventiently the stud retainers and the studs being threaded so that a stud can be screwed into the sole until the flange of the stud comes up tight against the surface of the sole.

Boots and shoes manufactured in accordance with this past practice have the disadvantage that during the flexing of the sole the flange edge of the stud lifts exposing a gap into which grass, mud or other objects can become lodged. This has the effect of unbalancing the shoe and misaligning the stud and also weakening the retention of the stud retainer within the sole causing cracking or breaking of the sole or fatigue due to continual movement, and turning and eventual withdrawal of the retainer.

An object of the present invention is to obviate the above mentioned disadvantage.

According to the present invention, in a boot or shoe of the kind having flanged studs secured to stud retainers embedded in the sole of the boot or shoe and projecting from the under-surface of the sole with the flanges lying against the under-surface of the sole, the under-surface of the sole is formed with cavities in which are accomrnodated the flanges of said studs, the bottom of each of the cavities being domed.

This form of cavity is a particularly desirable feature in the case of a moulded sole, of rubber or synthetic plastics material which is more easily deformed than a leather sole, because it prevents excessive deformation of the sole in the vicinities of the stud retainers, where its thickness has been decreased, and hence its deformability increased, by the cavities. Such deformation may be caused by tightening of the studs or by the flexing caused by the action of the sole during walking, or by lateral stresses on the studs. If this deformation were excessive it could lead to damage of the stud retainer and loosening of the stud retainer in the sole.

In the case of a stud retainer comprising a stud receptacle having a threaded barrel moulded into a sole without flange cavities, lateral stresses on the stud cause a loosening of the rubber or synthetic plastics material at the threaded barrel of the receptacle due to excessive movement of the stud, since the stud is unsupported in a cavity beneath. Such stresses also cause stretching of the rubber around the barrel. The provision of a domed cavity provides strength and support at the centre of the stud, and around the receptacle barrel and confines most of the movement to the periphery of the flange where due to the doming the rubber or plastics material is thinner. Thus any movement due to lateral stresses is distributed to the whole of the stud and receptacle unit and its surrounding rubber or plastics material.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a moulded sole for such a boot or shoe using a mould provided with a set of pegs, said method comprising the steps of placing stud retainers over the free ends of said pegs, placing an uncured sole in the mould over the retainers and moulding the sole under pressure so as to incorporate the retainers in the sole, said pegs each being surrounded by a flange so that below each stud retainer one of the aforementioned cavities complementary to the shape of the flange around the associated peg is formed in the under-surface of the sole for accommodating the flange of a stud.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sole mould,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the mould, with a moulded shoe therein,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a peg in the mould with a stud retainer placed over it, and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of a sole with a stud retainer and stud in position.

In this embodiment the shoe is provided with a moulded rubber sole 1 having studs 2 projecting from its undersurface. The studs 2 are screwed into retainers in the form of receptacles 3 secured in the sole 1 during moulding, as will be described, and are provided with flanges 4 which have a slight concavity in their surface 5 which comes up against the sole 1.

A mould for forming the sole has two separable side pieces 6 and 7 together defining the outline shape of the sole and a bottom piece 8 shaped to form the undersurface of the sole 1. The bottom piece 8 of the mould is provided with a set of projecting pegs 9 disposed in positions corresponding to those in which studs 2 are to be fixed in the completed shoe.

The pegs 9 may be formed integrally with the bottom piece of the mould, or may be provided with a shank 10 sweated into a hole drilled into the bottom piece 8 as shown in the drawings. Each peg 8 is formed with a circular flange 11 whose underside lies against the bottom piece 8 of the mould, and whose area and thickness are such that a cavity 12 is formed in the under-surface of the sole of a size to accommodate completely the flange 4 on a stud 2. The upper surface. 13 of this flange is concave so that it forms the cavity '12 with a domed bottom 14. Above the flange 11 the peg 9 is formed with a cylindrical collar portion 15 of a diameter less than that of the flange 11. The peg 9 extends upwardly for a short distance at 16 above the collar portion 15 to locate a stud receptacle 3.

The stud receptacles 3 are the kind comprising an internally screw-threaded socket 17 and a lateral flange 18 for embeding in the sole. The stud receptacles 3 are each placed over a respective peg 9 with the open end of its socket 17 abutting the shoulder 19 provided by the uppef end of the collar portion 15. Thus the collar portion 15 acts as a distance piece for locating the stud receptacle 3 in the sole 1 at a distance extending in the thickness of the sole from the bottom of the cavity 12 to provide a clamping action of the stud flange 4 onto the rubber dome defined by the bottom 14 of the cavity 12.

Having positioned the stud receptacles 3 on the pegs 9, an uncured rubber sole is laid in the mould over the receptacles, and an upper 20 lasted on a steel foot 21 which forms the top part of the mould is placed in position. The parts of the mould are then forced together to cure the sole under pressure.

In the curing process the sole 1 and upper 20 are bonded together in known manner and the sole flows to take up the desired form, the rubber of the sole flowing around the stud receptacles 3 which thus become embedded in the sole 1.

After removal of the mould the flanged studs 2, whose flanges 4 are concave on that surface which comes up against the domed bottoms 14 of the cavities 12 can be screwed into the receptacles 3, the flanges 4 on the studs 2 being accommodated in the cavities 12 provided and the domed bottoms 14 of the cavities 12 filling the concavity in the surface of the stud flange 4.

By thus arranging for the flanges 4 of the studs 2 to lie below the general under-surface of the sole 1, the disadvantage set out in the opening part of the specification is overcome, and also the stud flanges 4 being recessed into the sole 1 in this way will prevent unnecessary damage to golfing green etc. Also the more even distribution of stresses is advantageous.

I claim:

1. A boot or shoe comprising,

asole,

stud means including a stud retainer embedded in said sole and a stud member having a pointed stud portion, a flange and a shank,

a dome-shaped cavity in said sole for receiving said flange of said stud means,

said cavity over its entire surface area lying below the outer surface of said sole to receive said flange and permit substantially only said pointed stud portion to extend beyond said outer sole surface.

2. A boot or shoe as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sole is a moulded sole formed from an elastomeric material.

3. A boot or shoe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stud retainers are embeded in said sole at a distance extending in the thickness of the sole from the bottoms of said cavities enabling a clamping of said stud flanges to the bottom of said cavities.

4. A boot or shoe as claimed in claim 3, wherein said stud retainers have a threaded barrel into which said studs are screwed.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein the surface of said flange in contact with the dome-shaped cavity is concave to provide thereby a close contact between said flange and said cavity bottom.

6. The combination of claim 1 wherein said cavity is of suflicient depth at least at its periphery that at least the peripheral portion of said flange lies wholly within the outer surface of said sole, only a central portion of said flange by reason of its concavity lying outside the outer surface of said sole.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,327,412 6/1967 Willmanns et al. 3659(67.5) 3,133,363 5/1964 Phillips 36-59 3,343,285 9/1967 Kowal 36-67 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 362.5 

